It wasn’t until I started at the second mystery bookshop, that I learned how important a signed book is. The first store I worked in, Foul Play, although delightful, was small and predominately paperbacks. An author signing his or her book, never occurred to me. Not until a local author dropped by and asked if […]readmore
Tags : book mailers
On the same page located on shelfawareness.com, a wonderful quote by an author sums up my feelings, and probably many other booklovers, to a tee. Right below this piece is the news about the big and wonderful independent bookstore in Portland OR, USA, Powells, who has had to lay off 30 workers over the past […]readmore
Liking your customers. OK, if not entirely in love, then at least tolerating their reading habits and purchases, and doing it while seeming to like the customers. Why is this simple thing so essential, and for some, so hard to accomplish? It’s essential for economic reasons. You buy books for the store. You need to […]readmore
I asked myself, what does that mean? The best books of all time? Best fiction? Best nonfiction? Both? From what time frame–the beginning of time–do cave drawings count? Books–are plays included, how about poems, religious tomes, children’s books, what languages, the questions were endless, with no definitive answer. The lists I saw ranged from strict […]readmore
Ever wonder what the The Postman Always Rings Twice means? It has nothing to do with character or plot within the classic crime novel. James Cain worked out a system with his mailman. If he rang once, this means the envelope was thick, probably full of a contract and advance from a publisher. If the […]readmore
Deja View A new section on the blog–Reviews of old titles, many from the Golden Age Of Crime Fiction.To find a copy of this or any other of the Deja View books–your local used bookstore is a great place to start. (The Murder In Retrospect is the icon for this group of posts) Murder Gives a Lovely […]readmore
From the National Post by Andrew Pyper.http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/02/03/andrew-pyper-what-are-you-working-on/Have you ever asked your favorite author what he or she was working on at the moment? If so, you’ll be interested to know the question is a quagmire of thoughts within the author’s mind. Read the article for a enlightening look at an writers’s response. The link to […]readmore
There are thousands of old books out there minus their original dust jackets. Some are first editions, some are not. There are a few talented people who work at restoring the original book covers, front, back, and flaps. Why should used bookshops be interested? A book that is in fairly decent condition and found […]readmore
